NEWARK -- Federal authorities waited more than two hours to close down a key terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport early Sunday evening after being alerted of a possible security breach, officials disclosed today.

The incident, set off after an unknown man strolled past a guard at a security checkpoint, sparked a panic that shut down Terminal C for hours and was still causing major flight delays today.

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerTerminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport Monday morning following a security breach the night before stopping air travel.
Without a name to go on, officials were still scrambling to locate and identify the mystery man. At the same time, they were also contending with concerns that the breach, coming less than two weeks after a failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound jet, seemed to have exposed yet more holes in the nation’s beleaguered airport security system — particularly at Newark Liberty, where there have been numerous security breakdowns over the years.

The Transportation Security Administration immediately reassigned the security officer who had assigned to the gate entrance where the breach occurred. His name was not released for publication. The agency also ordered physical changes to the gate area, narrowing the exit and moving the position of the security officer further down the corridor.

Separately, U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), a member of the senate aviation subcommittee, and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), both met with Russ McCaffery, acting director of federal security at Newark Liberty Airport, to discuss the matter.

McCaffery told them the TSA officer at the gate had been momentarily distracted by a departing passenger’s question, as a rush of people came out the door from a flight that had just landed. While that was happening, an individual walked behind him, against the flow of people, apparently to talk to his girlfriend who had just cleared security and was already on the other side. TSA officials said the incident began some time around 5:20 p.m. but the lockdown was not ordered until 7:45 pm,

Lautenberg said the security breach and the TSA’s response were completely unacceptable.

"This security breakdown was inexcusable, especially when our aviation system was supposedly on high alert," said Lautenberg, calling for a full investigation to determine what went wrong and make sure it never happens again.

Menendez said he plans to specifically discuss with the Port Authority and TSA an expansion of the terminal’s video surveillance system, which is not operated by the TSA.

"This incident didn’t seem like anything nefarious, but it raises the question that it could have been," said Menendez. "The terrorists only have to get it right once. We have to get it right all the time."

Menendez called it another example of a scenario that should have been picked up before it happened. "You have to think of all these possibilities ahead of the curve," he said.

Meanwhile, the airport delays of Sunday continued to reverberate today, as international flights outbound from Newark that were late on arrival to destinations in Europe and Asia, were unable to take off on time for return flights back to the United States.

In the first full accounting of the security breach at Terminal C, which serves mostly Continental Airlines, TSA officials said a man described as Asian was spotted as he walked the wrong way down the exit lane of the C-1 security checkpoint. Officials said he was reported by someone on the public side who was waiting to pick up a passenger.

"It’s an empty corridor that arriving passengers depart through," explained TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. "It’s meant to be one way, and one way only. There are signs that say no re-entry beyond this point."

While a security officer was posted at the exit, he failed to notice the man and TSA did not realize a breach had occurred until they were subsequently told about it.

"The person who reported this was a little unclear as to what he saw," Davis said. "We needed to pull the security tapes to ascertain that this actually happened and, if it did, to acquire a description of the individual."

About 25 minutes later, the same man left the secure area of the airport through another exit, unbeknownst to anyone. He was only later spotted on surveillance tapes hours after the lock down. During this time, no one looked for the man, and passengers continued to board their various flights throughout the terminal.

A Continental spokeswoman could not say how many, if any, actually took off between the time of the security breach and the decision to eventually shut the terminal.

By 7 p.m., TSA officials concluded that a breach had indeed occurred and a decision was made to halt security screenings, while TSA and Port Authority police searched for the man who was no longer there. Not finding him, a decision was made to remove all the passengers from the secure area and shut down the terminal. That set off a cascade of delays and ended flight operations for nearly six hours.

"We were working with thousands of people," Davis said.

Nothing suspicious was found in the terminal.

It wasn’t until 10:30 p.m. that the security screenings resumed and about 1:30 in the morning before the last groups of passengers were re-screened.

Inside Terminal C late today, where air travelers stood on line to pass through security, many said it seemed the airport was back to business as usual.

At the C-1 security checkpoint, where more than 125 passengers waited on lines snaking back and forth in front of the metal detectors, business traveler Shane Guthrie of Sparta said the crowds seemed normal.

"It’s a standard Monday," said Guthrie, who was headed for San Francisco.